Iyad Allaw , the newly appointed Prime Minister of a new interim administration of Iraq makes speech at a Baghdad ceremony of forming the new interim government, in this Iraqi capital, June 1, 2004. It had been announced that Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways were named vice presidents and Iyad Allawi newly appointed Prime Minister. Allawi vowed Tuesday to work to regain full sovereignty on June 30 and in the period after that. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)    

    BAGHDAD, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's newly appointed Prime Minister Iyad Allawi vowed Tuesday to work to regain full sovereignty on June 30 and in the period after that.

    At a Baghdad ceremony of forming the new interim government, Allawi pointed out that a government "enjoying full sovereignty" is a step toward a state of law and order, reform and democratic life.

    To many Iraqis, choosing Allawi as prime minister of the interim Iraqi government which will take over power from the US-led coalition forces on June 30 did not come as a surprise.

    Being one of the most prominent Iraqi political refugees abroad who cooperated with the Americans, Allawi was chosen as a member of the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) after the US occupation of Iraq and then into the 9-member presidential body in the council.

    As head of the National Accord Movement, a powerful presence inthe political arena in Iraq, Allawi was able to include many Baathists into his movement in the past year.

    According to alphabetic order, he was the third monthly rotating president of the IGC in October 2003.

    Born in 1945 to a Shiite family, Allawi is a surgeon and the grandson of a physician who was the health minister in Iraq's monarchy era.

    Allawi was a Baath Party member for 10 years (1961 - 1971) before he left for Beirut and London.

    In 1991, he founded the Iraqi National Accord movement, which became one of the opposition political organizations against Saddam Hussein's regime and his Baath Party.

    During the time that preceded the toppling of Saddam's regime, the movement took Amman, capital of Jordan, as a center for its political and media activities. It moved to Baghdad after the US-led coalition forces ousted Saddam in April last year.

    According to observers, one of the reasons for Allawi's nomination is that he is a Shiite.

    The United States and United Nations wanted a Sunni figure for the position of Iraqi president and a Shiite for the position of prime minister, as part of the balance between the religious and national sects of the Iraq society, they said. Enditem